Online information for people with urological cancers: Website analysis and views of healthcare professionals

Why this project was conducted?

Internet websites are an important source of information for patient with urological cancers and their family members. There are many websites which provide information pertaining to various urological cancers. It is difficult for a patient to assess the quality of information which is available online. This research was undertaken to explore the views of healthcare professionals regarding the role of these websites in the management of patients with urological cancers and to assess the overall quality of information which is available online for patients with urological cancers.

How this project was carried out?

Interviews were conducted with a variety of healthcare professionals which included both nurses and doctors to explore their views about urological cancer websites. A checklist was developed to assess the online information. Fifty urological cancer websites were selected and assessed by the developed checklist.

What were the main findings of this project?

Healthcare professionals who were interviewed agreed that websites play an important role in the management of patient with urological cancer. Healthcare professionals thought that websites provided an additional source of information and could not replace other sources of information such as leaflets and booklets. Assessment of 50 identified websites showed that the overall quality of online information was variable. The majority of the websites were not linked with an expert in the field and the contents were also not peer-reviewed. The majority of the websites did not disclose the date when it was last updated and did not provide their source of information.

According to healthcare professionals websites are important in the management of patients with urological cancers. The information on the websites should be peer-reviewed before making it available online. The information on the websites should be linked to an expert in the field. The source of information of the websites as well as the date when it was last updated should also be provided.

The project was conducted by Dr Muhammad Imran Omar, Dr Zoë Skea, Dr Sara Jane MacLennan and Professor Vikki Entwistle. For more information contact Dr. Muhammad Imran Omar ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

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